A qualitative theory for shape representation and matching for design.

摘要

A new method for qualitative shape recognition and matching applied to the recognition and matching of objects in designs is presented. The paper presents an ordering information approach to the qualitative description of shapes considering qualitatively their angles, relative side length, concavities and convexities of the boundary and colour. The shapes recognised are regular and non-regular closed polygons without or with holes. To describe shapes with holes, topological and qualitative spatial orientation aspects are considered in order to relate the hole with its container. Each object is described by a string containing its qualitative distinguish features, which is used to match the object against others. The paper also describes how this method can be used in industrial design by explaining an application which final main objective is the automatic and intelligent assembling of mosaic borders using robot arms in the ceramic industry. This qualitative method provides several advantages over traditional quantitative representations. The main advantages are the reduction of computational costs and the managing of uncertainty.